New Highs in the Dow -- and Complacency

The slump in the VIX and gold are dual signs of investors' lack of fear. Buy an umbrella while the sun shines.

In case you hadn't noticed, there's a bull market in progress. Not just in stocks but complacency. Lulled by the feel-good medicine of liquidity showered by central banks on the financial markets, investors have boosted the Dow Jones Industrial Average to record highs, which has gotten page-one coverage in your local newspaper.

What hasn't gotten the same attention has been the collapse in the stock market's so-called fear gauge -- widely known by its ticker, VIX, but formally the CBOE Volatility Index for the Standard...